Photographs by three-year-olds shows other aspects of the preschool

Lecture

What happens if three-year-olds in preschool gets access to digital cameras? Lena O Mangusson's thesis from October examines that question and shows that children's photographs reveals other aspects of preschool than the one that appears in the educators' photographs.

Lena O Magnusson is, since October, doctor in aesthetic expressions with a focus on education. In her thesis at the Academy of Design and Crafts, she takes an interest in the relationships between three year olds, photography and digital cameras in the preschool.

The dissertation Treåringar, kameror och förskola ¿ en serie diffraktiva rörelser takes its starting point in the fact that pedagogues in the preschool often document children's development, learning, actions and relationships through photography. Children are defined and described by the photographs, which also shows some of the power relationships between children and adults more generally in preschool.

"The children in preschool rarely have the opportunity to use cameras, therefore they have no way of answering the camera and thus re-direct the photographic view", says Lena O Magnusson.

The scientific study was made at two different preschools, in two groups of three-year-olds. The study was conducted as an ethnographic study, where also things, and not just the people, is understood as actors.

"In my position as a researcher, I offer and invite the children to use digital cameras as they choose without pointers. The purpose is to understand the child's perspective and my interest is directed towards what is happening in the relationship between the children and their environment."